


protection

by jackopancake



Category: Gintama
Genre: Gen, Guns, Post-Kaientai Arc, Pre-Canon, implied PTSD, sakamoto gets a gun from someone other than takasugi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 13:14:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6856117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackopancake/pseuds/jackopancake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tatsuma's hand causes him to lose his sword arm, so now he needs to find new ways to protect himself. Mutsu has a solution, but Tatsuma doesn't really like it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	protection

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a gift and then I expanded it. Enjoy! (Still a gift.)

He laughs as he lays in bed in the med bay. A deal gone wrong, he had almost been killed in the process. He trusts too easily, and he knows it, but he still had followed after the client into his ship only to be taken hostage. When Mutsu finally found him, he had been beaten, bloody, but not broken, as he still laughs even now. It takes a lot to break Sakamoto Tatsuma (the war did).

If only he had a sword when it happened. He doesn't carry one anymore, however. His right hand was still recovering, and holding something as heavy as a sword doesn't help it at all.

Mutsu is watching him, looking most displeased. Why does he have to be such a reckless idiot? Does he not care about his own life? She wiggles a plastic bag in front of his face. After hearing about what happened, she had rummaged through the cargo on board to see if they had anything of the sort. She berated him, but all he had done was laugh. He isn't paying attention, so she chucks the box at his chest. He catches it.

He makes a small 'oh?' sound and sits up a bit. "A gift? You normally punch me in the face as a present."

She had considered that, he deserves a punch for what he did. But she just sighs. He shakes the box a bit, humming.

"Just open it."

He hums and pulls the lid off. What was it going to be? Cake? Some wickedly cool souvenir from a distant planet? The happy expression on his face drops a little bit as he slowly picks up what was inside. A gun? He's seen guns in the war and the damage they could do. Images of the swift deaths a gun can deliver flash through his mind, and his frown deepens. "This is a weapon of destruction, Mutsu. It kills. I can't." He puts it back in the box.

"To you, it kills. But it can also protect." She picks it up. A tiny child holding a gun... it makes Tatsuma uneasy. Mutsu is only 14, after all. She's used a gun more often than he'd ever know, however. "This is the safety. You have to make sure it's latched or else you could-"

"I'm not accepting a goddamn gun!" he shouts, realizing she was teaching him how to use the damn thing! His voice is loud, and it's even louder when he's screaming. He doesn't get far in his ranting before he feels a pain shoot across his face, ah there it is, the punch.

"You'll die without protection. A sword protects but it also kills, right? With that hand of yours, you can't hold a sword to protect yourself. But this gun is much easier to use, much lighter to hold. People are afraid of them, so if you only hold it out, people will run. It'll keep you safe." There's something about her lecture that strikes a chord with Tatsuma. She's angry, but there's also a sort of desperation. She only wants him safe, the big brother she never had. She doesn't want him to die.

He takes the gun slowly, holding it up. More memories flash through his mind and he closes his eyes. It's unpleasant, heavy in his hand. He remembers the young boy whose brains were blown out by one, and he takes a deep breath. But... She's right. He'll die if he doesn't have something, and he can't hold a sword.

"I'll take you to the cargo bay once you heal up, you can shoot some empty cargo," she demands. "You'll need practice."

He glances up at her before letting out one of his big laughs. "This may not be so bad after all. Thank you, Mutsu," he says, although he doesn't really believe it. He often wonders about his new motto... try new things... how far would he go? Tatsuma's a convincing liar, at least.

He also wants the sadness in Mutsu's eyes to go away.

What he says works, and Mutsu grows happy again, and now she looks smug. "Told you." She sticks out her tongue, and Tatsuma just laughs more.

Although his pride took a beating there.


End file.
